I'm homeless and I've lived in my Honda Fit for months. Ask me anything.

[Geekbabe]

I couldn't do that, there is no room for a reclining chair in your car. Good for you that you have found a way to live that works for you.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I couldn't live in a car for the sole reason that I require a throne room. A bathroom that I can claim in the name of France. Being without an anchor point would be unacceptable.

I'm fine with just going into the woods to shit.

Where do you entertain your lady friends?

Common areas. If need be we can always book a private hotel or hostel room.

Suggest you read Jupiter's Travels by Ted Simon - 4 years around the world on a motorcycle:

http://www.amazon.com/Jupiters-Trave...mm_kin_title_0

Will do! There are also a lot of travel logs on sites like www.advrider.com from people who have done this.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

If you get lost and see a cabin on a mountaintop, do you sleep in it?

If it's for public use or looks abandoned, sure. Most of the time I prefer to sleep outside though.

Maybe get you a solar panel and a battery kit. Set the panel on top of the car while skiing.

My power requirements have not necessitated that I get something like this yet. If I had an RV or truck camper, for sure since I'd be using it as an office.

But in a car or on a motorcycle I'll be constantly searching for places like cafes and hotel lobbies and such.

 

[adlep]

Congratulations on being different....
On a second though, this IS California. I have seen many people like you around. You ski, they surf, paraglide, sail, bike, etc,etc...
By next year - once your business really takes off upgrade to a van and park it right down by the river.

 

[tfinch2]

Where do you go when you get the hershey squirts?

 

[SSSnail]

You know FBB, forget what anyone say about you, although you seem to be not all there at times, but I think you're a cool guy, in a weird way.

I take back whatever I said about you. Go live your life, man.

If you're gonna be in SF, hit me up, and give me some camera shooting tips.

 

[destrekor]

so you're a vagabond with a job (of a sort) ?

 

[Blackjack200]

We do real estate marketing - Realtors, home builders, property managers, and homeowners hire us to take photos and videos of their listings and put them on the web. I train the photographers and the processors and I manage the scheduling and the customer interaction. And obviously the other stuff like marketing, accounting, etc. We're not big enough at this point to have people dedicated to these individual tasks, but this year we will - hiring a sales person, or multiple. I simply don't have enough bandwidth to do everything by myself anymore.

Do you do staging too?

 

[destrekor]

Is all your photography realtor business stuff under the table?

That's something I just never considered before (and would need a new camera, as my SLR is film and for marketing work that's a pain in the ass). I always preferred architecture, landscape, and in general staged/controlled shots (or taking advantage of nature)... and thus far have failed to start up an IT related career...

Do you pull in enough to actually enjoy a fulfilling life, even if you were to pay for rent/mortgage? As in, a decent middle class-type wage when you have good business?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Where do you go when you get the hershey squirts?

This is a tough one. If I'm actually sick I have to check in at a hostel or motel or something. At the very least find somewhere comfortable and warm and rest.

As for diarrhea, any bathroom or the outdoors will do.

You know FBB, forget what anyone say about you, although you seem to be not all there at times, but I think you're a cool guy, in a weird way.

I take back whatever I said about you. Go live your life, man.

If you're gonna be in SF, hit me up, and give me some camera shooting tips.

Gracias! FYI, I don't actually connect and remember what people say with their usernames. My brain just can't do it. I react to each post separately. So if I ever respond angrily, I'm responding to the post, not the poster.

so you're a vagabond with a job (of a sort) ?

Yup.

Do you do staging too?

No. But I work with one of the biggest stagers in the area. Shoot almost all of their houses. Staging is a whole 'nother level with inventory and warehouse and capital requirements that I don't want to get into. It can be extremely profitable but I want an easier to manage business personally.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Is all your photography realtor business stuff under the table?

That's something I just never considered before (and would need a new camera, as my SLR is film and for marketing work that's a pain in the ass). I always preferred architecture, landscape, and in general staged/controlled shots (or taking advantage of nature)... and thus far have failed to start up an IT related career...

Do you pull in enough to actually enjoy a fulfilling life, even if you were to pay for rent/mortgage? As in, a decent middle class-type wage when you have good business?

No, not under the table at all. I take checks, credit cards, report everything to the IRS, etc. Nothing is done with cash, especially when I don't do the actual shooting and I never meet the clients.

Real estate photography is very location-dependent. It won't fly in a place where homes are selling for $50,000 because agents simply do not have the budget for photography when you take into account the commission they get. It needs to be in a place where the real estate market is healthy and the home prices are decently high.

The problem is that as a photographer you're the one who always has to do the work. And forget moving because then you'd have to build up your client base from scratch. As a photographer, there's no working from home, ever. In addition, Realtors are the most frustrating customers to have to deal with. I can't begin to tell you how frustrating it is. The barrier to entry of being a Realtor is too low. But of course all of these complaints are MY complaints. Some people love going into houses and being on site and doing the actual work and meeting clients and discussing real estate stuff. I'm an introverted tumbleweed who lives in a car.

Yes, we pull in enough. I live a very lean life though and all my expenses are for tools to better the business.

As for a fulfilling life, that's impossible to say because everyone has a different definition of fulfilling. I definitely want more because right now I'm not helping people. We shoot houses for a living. Whoopdy-doo. I've only got this one life and I need to leave this world and its inhabitants way better than when my sorry ass got born. I wasn't doing it as a photographer and I'm not doing it now as the manager, so I'm not entirely fulfilled. However, that's something that I'm working on doing this year, turning my business into one where social responsibility is a main pillar of what we do, and I think the potential is greater as a manager of a business than as the lone photographer (which I was at one point).

 

[Imported]

http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_ren...-122.096686,37.407426,-122.212987_rect/13_zm/

The $900 one. On Zillow for only one day. CHECK IT OUT NOW BEFORE IT GETS TAKEN.

EDIT: crap it just disappeared.

$700 a month.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/Stanford-Ave-Menlo-Park-CA-94025/2114062388_zpid/

Interesting. Will have to check this out some more, but I imagine $700 is for just a bedroom, not the whole place. http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/251-Stanford-Ave-Menlo-Park-CA-94025/15599011_zpid/ looks like the same place.

 

[ManBearPig]

People let you just park in their neighborhoods?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

People let you just park in their neighborhoods?

A little white car with tinted windows? They don't even notice.

Interesting. Will have to check this out some more, but I imagine $700 is for just a bedroom, not the whole place. http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/251-Stanford-Ave-Menlo-Park-CA-94025/15599011_zpid/ looks like the same place.

Right. When I say rent for around $1000+, I'm talking about just a single room. There is no way to rent an entire place or a studio in the Stanford area for just ~$1000. People in this area share space like crazy precisely because it is so expensive. And most use their garages for storing stuff, not for parking their cars.

 

[ViviTheMage]

sounds interesting man, stay safe.

you should document your travels a bit more ...would love to follow another blog like that. I am sure you've heard of expedition portal? People do stuff like this all the time, live on motorcycles touring the world, and not just motorcycles, cares, sailboats, rvs, etc. I read a bunch of them, and at some point I would love to do something similiar.

 

[ManBearPig]

So you just park in front of people's houses? I feel like people would be kinda pissed off heh.

Anyway, I echo what the others say: probably not for me, stay safe, and I'm a little envious. Post pics!

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

sounds interesting man, stay safe.

you should document your travels a bit more ...would love to follow another blog like that. I am sure you've heard of expedition portal? People do stuff like this all the time, live on motorcycles touring the world, and not just motorcycles, cares, sailboats, rvs, etc. I read a bunch of them, and at some point I would love to do something similiar.

Yup! Working on it. Wondering whether I should just start now while I'm in the states or start when I start heading off on my trip?

So you just park in front of people's houses? I feel like people would be kinda pissed off heh.

Anyway, I echo what the others say: probably not for me, stay safe, and I'm a little envious. Post pics!

Thanks! I try to be discrete. For example, I don't like to park directly in front of people's houses. If they're at an intersection, I'll park on the side that faces the *side* of their house instead of the front. If everyone is parking on the street it doesn't matter, such as in San Francisco. Just yesterday I parked at a Safeway. Woke up, walked in, got two slabs of ribs for $5 each and some squash.

 

[TheSlamma]

Keep in mind the Honda fit is known for it's coil packs going bad at around 50K miles, just changed out the wife's last week, $250 in parts, 8 minutes to change em

 

[grohl]

How do you like that Mont Bell bag? Is their gear any good? Is that a bag or bivy sack??

 

[Brigandier]

I say start the blog a year ago.

 

[Greenman]

Sounds like an absolutely miserable existence to me. I consider a hotel without room service "roughing it", living out of a compact car would be the seventh circle of hell.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Keep in mind the Honda fit is known for it's coil packs going bad at around 50K miles, just changed out the wife's last week, $250 in parts, 8 minutes to change em

Gah, what are the symptoms? It's right at 49,900, lol

How do you like that Mont Bell bag? Is their gear any good? Is that a bag or bivy sack??

I LOVE the Montbell bag. I bought it 8 years ago - the Montbell Super Stretch #2 - 25F bag.

I've taken it down to -6F and it wasn't a problem (but I sleep warm). I have slept in it 365 days a year for those 8 years because I don't own comforters.

After 8 years and washings it had lost a lot of its loft and I thought that it was done for. Some of the baffles didn't even have any down in them anymore! BUT there's this guy in Truckee, CA that I just used a couple days ago - Technical Equipment Cleaners. He said that it looked like I had not lost any down, but all the body oils and soap scum from home washings had made the down totally clump. Mind you - this is an 8 year old bag used 365 times a year.

When I got it back it was better than brand new. Lofty, all the baffles had down, warm as hell again, the colors looked brighter, and the shell felt like new. All for $40. I was going to drop $350 on a new bag before this.

Montbell is extremely high quality stuff. They are the North Face of Asia. Very popular there and very high performance. The only rub would be that they're mostly ultralight equipment, which by its very nature is a tad more delicate than the heavy stuff.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Sounds like an absolutely miserable existence to me. I consider a hotel without room service "roughing it", living out of a compact car would be the seventh circle of hell.

I'm an explorer and adventurer. To each his own.

I was ecstatic when I got my scuba diving cert because it allowed me to start exploring the other 70% of our world.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I couldn't do that, there is no room for a reclining chair in your car. Good for you that you have found a way to live that works for you.

Why do you need a reclining chair?

 

[poohbear]

Just curious to OP, how old are u? I ask because ive always contemplated living on the go but now that ive hit my 30s and have a steady gf i dont see it as feasible... we travel on vacation, but its not the same ofcourse.